


Another Home

by NotManTheLessButNatureMore



Series: Cormoran the (Younger) Giant [1]
Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-23 18:24:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18707482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotManTheLessButNatureMore/pseuds/NotManTheLessButNatureMore
Summary: Another exploration of Cormoran and Nick’s teen friendship, and Cormoran’s place in the Herbert home.





	Another Home

**Author's Note:**

> Because apparently I haven’t finished with Strike and Nick as teens. And Mrs Herbert is a caring treasure. No idea how this ended up so long :/

“What?!” Nick came awake with a start, flinging the duvet away from his face and pulling his head up off his pillow. The room was dark and he looked around attempting to find what had woken him. No noise came from the hallway outside and he distantly heard the snores of his dad and younger brother.

 

Nick’s head shot to the side as a dull crackle came from his window. He sat up in bed and paused waiting for another sound. None came and his sleep addled brain wondered briefly what a serial killer breaking into your home sounded like.

 

Another rap on his window had Nick throwing his duvet aside and creeping across his room. He carefully put a hand amongst the school books, pens and chocolate wrappers on the desk in front of his window and leaned forward to get a look outside. The road was dark, lit only in spots by the orange glow of the street lamps. A dark figure was standing below, shuffling from foot to foot in response to the cold. The figure crouched and picked up one of the pebbles by the side of the garden path and Nick pulled back into the shadows of his room just as the pale face looked up towards his window.

 

Oggy?!

 

The pebble hit the window right in front of where Nick’s face had been. He shoved the window open with a jerk and heard the end of a cough from Cormoran.

 

“Christ, how long does it take you to wake up you lazy-“

 

“Oggy!?” Nick shouted.

 

“Shhh!” He hissed from below.

 

“What are you doing?” Nick half whispered, half shouted.

 

“Your side gate is locked.” Cormoran said, as if that explained why he was loitering menacingly in Nick’s front garden.

 

“So? Since when are you part of the neighbourhood watch?” Nick said incredulously.

 

Cormoran’s face scrunched up and though Nick couldn’t hear it he imagined the hiss of dismissal that his best friend would be making.

 

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your side gate keys.” Cormoran shouted up as he went down on one knee with a hand outstretched and one resting behind his back.

 

“You’re not Romeo you idiot.”

 

“Rapunzel wasn’t in Romeo and Juliet you twat.” Cormoran countered.

 

Nick rolled his eyes and then told his friend to wait there. He grabbed his dressing gown from where it was thrown over his desk chair and quietly walked to his door, opening it only half way and squeezing through in order to avoid it creaking loudly. He listened for his dad’s snoring and let out a sigh of relief when he heard it. Thankfully his parent’s room was at the back of the house, furthest from Cormoran’s midnight disruption.

 

He crept down the stairs and grabbed his keys and the spare side gate key from the hook by their coat stand. He could see Cormoran’s dark shadow outside the window by the front door.

 

“What are doing here?” Nick hissed as he pulled the front door open and shut it softly behind him as he stepped out into the cold night air.

 

“I missed the last bus. I was gonna sleep in the shed.” Cormoran said with a nod towards the side gate.

 

“And that’s a totally normal thing to do.” Nick said.

 

“Well I’m not sleeping on a park bench in Hackney. You’d have to think of a good speech for my funeral and I wouldn’t want to put that kind of pressure on you.”

 

“Real considerate of you.” Nick said with annoyance creeping into his voice.

 

“Anyway, it’s a two hour walk home from here, at least. I’ve already walked from that pub in Clapton.” Cormoran supplied. Nick knew the pub he was talking about. Last year Leda had moved them into a flat around the corner from it and though they only stayed a few months, Strike discovered that his height and bulk had reached the stage of allowing him to pass for eighteen. Nick was more convinced that the old and world weary barman simply didn’t care whose money was filling the till of the quiet and slightly dirty pub.

 

“You can’t sleep in the shed.” Even if there was now a bench and fairly comfortable seat cushion thanks to his dad, Nick knew the shed would be freezing in this weather and his best mate was still shaking off a chest infection.

 

“I’ll be fine.” Cormoran argued, sounding not completely convinced himself.

 

“You’re not sleeping in the shed,” Nick reiterated as he slowly pushed the front door open again, “Well take your shoes off then.”

 

Cormoran looked at the front door and then at the side gate.

 

“Alright. You’ll make a lovely wife for someone one day, you know.” He said as he leaned over and started to pull his shoes off.

 

“Piss off.” Nick replied while putting a steadying hand on Cormoran’s shoulder as he started to list slightly to one side.

 

“How much have you had?”

 

“Only a few, just lost track of time.” Cormoran’s voice trailed off at the end and Nick knew his best mate well enough to know that his excuse wasn’t entirely the reason he had ended up here.

 

“Well keep quiet and if you get me grounded I swear to-“

 

“Relax Nick.”

 

“Watch the-

 

“Floorboard by the door, I know.”

 

They crept inside, both quietly padding along in the socks and Nick opened the living room door with one quick shove in order to catch the latch before it gave it’s usual bang. They straightened up from their hunched ‘sneaking about’ positions once inside the room and the closed door gave a slight feeling of freedom.

 

Nick pulled a blanket from the chest by the couch and threw it at Strike who had begun to pull his jacket off.

 

“You got served in your school uniform?” Nick asked, only now noticing that Cormoran was still dressed in their school’s dark grey uniform and had his school bag on his back.

 

“Well I kept my jacket on didn’t I. Give me some credit.” Strike said as he sat back on the couch and yawned.

 

“Does your mum know you’re here?”

 

“No.”

 

“Well don’t you think-“

 

“I told Shanker and Lucy I wouldn’t be home.”

 

“So sleeping in the shed was always the plan then?” Nick asked, a disapproving look on his face.

 

“No. I was gonna call around to Shannon, her mum’s away this weekend but turns out she’s gone away with her grandparents.”

 

“So I’m just the backup plan, lovely.” Nick said teasingly. Strike looked up at him and smirked.

 

“You’re sort of lacking the essential equipment needed for the kind of plan I had in mind.” He responded, an eyebrow raised and a cheeky look on his face.

 

“Oh. Right.” Nick couldn’t help the blush that crept onto his cheeks.

 

He didn’t know Shannon very well but she had always been nice to him the few times they met. She was in the year ahead of them but went to the same breakfast club at school that Cormoran sometimes went to and that’s where they’d met. She also had an absent father, a younger sibling and was an Arsenal fan. Nick had first seen them together by the entrance to the lane that ran along the side of the school, her hands pulling on his belt buckle and his on either side of her face as they kissed. On the walk to the tube station after school he’d asked Cormoran a thousand more questions than he’d ever asked his dad.

 

“Don’t suppose there’s any dinner left?” Cormoran asked.

 

“No. Even if there was I’m not bashing pots and pans around now, might as well just go and wake Mum and Dad up.”

 

“You’re a fucking terrible host.” Cormoran said as he stretched his legs out across the couch, kicking Nick in the back where he’d sat down beside him.

 

“Excuse me?” Nick and Cormoran both jumped up as the door swung open to reveal Nick’s mum in her fluffy pink dressing gown.

 

“Mum! We were-“

 

“Mrs Herbert, I was just-“

 

Nick’s mum’s hand went up and silenced them both. She looked from Nick to Strike and then at the blanket on the couch.

 

“What are you doing here Cormoran, it’s the middle of the night?”

 

“Gas leak.” Cormoran responded without missing a beat.

 

“What?” Nick blurted out and then slammed his mouth shut.

 

“A gas leak?” Mrs Herbert repeated, looking Cormoran up and down.

 

“Yeah. There was a gas leak, the whole block of flats had to be evacuated. I hope you don’t mind but Nick was kind enough to offer me the couch for the night.” Strike said and Nick’s eyes went wide. His mum looked at him and he quickly smiled sheepishly.

 

“Are you alright?” She asked, looking Strike up and down.

 

“Yes, fine, thanks.”

 

“And where’s Lucy?”

 

“Staying with one of her friends in Vauxhall.” Sometimes it worried Nick how fast and how assuredly his friend could spin a lie.

 

“And your mum? Doesn’t she need somewhere to stay?”

 

“No, no, She’s fine. Trying to get in touch with the landlord.”

 

“Right.” For a tense few seconds Nick’s mum looked between the two of them with narrow eyes and then pulled her hair up into a ponytail as she turned away towards the doors. Cormoran and Nick both let out a sigh of relief.

 

“Are you hungry Cormoran?” Mrs Herbert asked as she paused by the door.

 

“Starving.” Strike said with a smug grin thrown Nick’s way.

 

The two boys followed her into the kitchen during which a deep cough erupted from Strike that he just about muffled with a hand over his mouth. Nick and he both looked towards the ceiling but no movement came from above.

 

“Don’t worry, those two would sleep through an earthquake.” Nick’s mum said as they entered the kitchen. Cormoran, as usual, took Nick’s seat at the table by the patio door. Nick pulled his dressing gown tighter around himself in defence against the cold of the night and turned to see Cormoran pulling his wool jumper off.

 

“It’s freezing!” Nick said.

 

“I’m hot, I’ve just walked from the p-“ he stopped just in time with a glance at Mrs Herbert’s back, “I’m just hot.”

 

“Are you still taking your cough medicine?” Nick’s mum asked from where she was gathering sandwich ingredients.

 

“Finished it yesterday.” Strike answered.

 

“Nick, grab the cough bottle out of the fridge. There should be some left from when you had yours a few months back.” Mrs Herbert said, adding, “It should still be in date” as an afterthought.

 

“I’m alright, honest.” Strike replied.

 

“That’s why you’re still coughing?” She asked, turning and fixing him with a stare that reminded him of his aunt Joan.

 

Nick came back from the fridge and plonked the bottle and tiny plastic spoon on the table in front of Strike before putting a hand to his friend’s forehead.

 

“Get off.” Strike said as he pulled back but Nick just followed him.

 

“You‘re hot.”

 

“Shannon thinks so.” Strike said, leaning forward with a smirk and whispering so only his friend would hear. It earned him a punch in the arm from Nick.

 

“Ow.”

 

“Punishment for a terrible joke.” Nick said and then walked over to the kitchen press and pulled out some digestives which he started munching on at the table while Strike swallowed the sugary tasting cough medicine.

 

“There you go.” Nick’s mum said as she put a plate of sandwiches and a glass of orange juice on the table in front of Cormoran.

 

“You’re an angel Mrs Herbert.” Strike said as he started to demolish the sandwiches. She looked at him with an expression that Nick couldn’t quit decipher.

 

“Pop the kettle on, there’s a good lad.” She said to her son and Nick reluctantly grabbed three mugs from the press and the tea caddy from the counter.

 

“Did you have dinner?” He heard his mum ask Strike.

 

“A bag of chips, but that was hours ago.”

 

Nick turned and shared an amused look with his mum. She had long since known to always have an extra serving ready if Cormoran would be around, no matter when he had last eaten. She had it on good authority that more than once he’d eaten toast at home, porridge in front of her while he waited on Nick and then cereal at the breakfast club when he arrived at school.

 

Cormoran went back to concentrating on his sandwiches and downed his orange juice, only looking up when the kettle clicked and Nick poured the hot water in the mugs.

 

“How’s your mum Mrs Herbert?” He asked in between mouthfuls.

 

“She’s doing okay now, she’s out of hospital and staying with my sister for a few weeks.” She smiled warmly as he looked away, watching Nick approach with their tea.

 

“That’s good.” Cormoran said as he took his tea from Nick.

 

Her son’s best friend was a complicated puzzle to her. It took her a long time to warm to him. Nick returned home from school one day announcing that a new boy had started, not unusual, but after only a week another boy came to school with second hand stories about the rock star Johnny Rokeby and suddenly the mysterious Cormoran was the centre of attention at the Hackney comprehensive. Nick talked more and more about his new friend and Mr and Mrs Herbert became increasingly uneasy about his friendship with the boy who lived in one of the more louche areas. That was until one day Nick returned home from school with Cormoran in tow, loitering by the front gate and reluctant to come in. He’d gotten into a fight at school and Nick had dragged him home with him to clean his cuts. A warning glare from his mum had Nick arguing Cormoran’s case, it wasn’t his fault, he said, some boys had brought pictures of Leda modelling lingerie into school and made comments that Nick wouldn’t repeat in front of his mother. Mrs Herbert sighed and listened as Cormoran shouted to Nick that he’d go home and Nick looked pleadingly back at her.

 

She walked out into the garden and took a good look at her son’s friend. He smiled politely but was guarded in a way that hung menacingly on his tall frame. He had a few scrapes across one cheek and his knuckles were gashed and bleeding. With one look up and down she stepped back and motioned for him to go on into the house. Over repeated apologies, winces from stinging dettol and answers that contained only the necessary information Mrs Herbert came to view Cormoran in a different light. He wasn’t the offspring of a groupie and rockstar that lived in a drugs den and would have half their kids hooked on cocaine by the end of term, as mothers in the neighbourhood had implied. He was a boy the same age as her son who lived with his mum and sister and helped Nick with his English homework. Over time she would come to learn about the darker aspects to his home life, Cormoran was more of an adult than her teenage son, was forced to be, but she would also come to learn that he would never put her son in danger and would fiercely defend him if needed.

 

“That reminds me, I’m going to visit gran tomorrow, you’ll come won’t you Nick?” Mrs Herbert said as she blew on the hot cup of tea in her hands. She caught the way Cormoran’s face fell slightly.

 

“Unless you two had plans?” She asked. Nick looked from Strike to his mum and shrugged.

 

“Do we?” He asked.

 

“No, uh, I was gonna see if you wanted to study together. We’ve got that geography test.” Cormoran smiled and then took a gulp of his tea.

 

“It’s not until Tuesday though. Anyway, it’s multiple choice and it’s only soil and rock types, we’ll be fine.” Nick replied and then saw his mother’s arched eyebrow.

 

“Not that we don’t treat every test as an important part of our schooling and give it the study it deserves.” He added.

 

“Hm, I’m sure.” She said, an amused look on her face. She looked at Cormoran and saw that he’d put his tea down and looked to be thinking to himself. She then remembered that lately he’d taken every possible sleepover Nick had offered and was spending more evenings and weekends in their house, staying as late as they’d let him until she would reluctantly tell him he had to go home before it got too late and unsafe for a boy to be making his way through London alone.

 

“Why don’t you two study here tomorrow then? Your brother is spending the day at the science museum with his after school club and your Dad’s in work. It’ll be nice and quiet, perfect for studying.”

 

“Really?” Nick said warily. He was usually guilted into visiting his grandmother every time his mum went.

 

“You can visit your gran with me next weekend.”

 

“Alright.” Nick agreed, a smile thrown Cormoran’s way at the thought of having the house, including the freshly stocked food cupboard and TV, at their sole disposal.

 

“Well that’s sorted then.” Mrs Herbert said and grabbed a digestive from the table.

 

Nick yawned and downed more of his tea as Strike finished his sandwich and grabbed a few digestives for dessert.

 

“Why don’t you head up love?” Mrs Herbert said to her son.

 

“Yeah, I’m knackered. See you in the morning.” He said as he rose, put his mug in the sink and began the trek back to bed.

 

“Night.” Cormoran and Mrs Herbert both said.

 

A silence settled in the kitchen and Nick’s mum watched as Cormoran finished his tea.

 

“You’d tell me, wouldn’t you, if something had happened, was happening, at home? Something that made you not want to go home?” She said quietly.

 

“Everything’s fine.” He said, his face now with a dark, guarded look.

 

“But if it wasn’t, you could tell me. Or Nick’s dad.” She added, feeling increasingly like she was trying to negotiate with a wary stranger.

 

“I know.” He said quietly.

 

A long pause and then Strike got up to put his plate, glass and mug in the sink with Nick’s.

 

“It’s just mum’s boyfriend. We don’t really get on.” He said and Nick’s mum felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

 

“Why?” She asked.

 

“He supports Liverpool.” Strike smiled and huffed a laugh.

 

“Is he abusive? With your mum?” She stopped before adding ‘with you?’ knowing that she’d have been cleaning more gashed knuckles if someone had tried laying a hand on him. Then she wondered about Lucy.

 

“No, he... no.” He said and then grabbed his jumper from the back of his chair.

 

“Does he take drugs? Or sell them?” She asked.

 

“Just smokes a few joints, nothing more than that.” He shrugged.

 

She eyed him for a long moment, knowing she wasn’t getting the full story, before standing herself and walking to the sink.

 

“Next weekend, you could-“

 

“It’s alright, Lucy’s dad is taking her out for the day, it’s her birthday a few days after, and she wants me to come.” He smiled and then started walking towards the kitchen door.

 

“Night, and thanks Mrs Herbert.”

 

“Night Cormoran.”

 

He was halfway down the hall before she called him back.

 

“Next time, if you don’t want to go home come here. Not the pub!” She said with a pointed look.

 

“I didn’t-“ His response was cut short when Nick’s mum cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows.

 

“How did you-“ He began.

 

“Mother’s know these things.” She replied and then followed him upstairs where he walked quietly into Nick’s room, destined for his usual spot on the bottom bunk, and she returned to bed beside her still-snoring husband.

**Author's Note:**

> As always thanks for reading! :) I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
